Raffles Place MRT Station
|other = Bus|structure = Underground|platforms = Island|levels = 5|tracks = 4|parking = Yes|opened = 12 December 1987|electrified = Yes|ADA = Yes|operator = SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)|zone = 1|former = Central}}Raffles Place MRT Station is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South Line and the East West Line in Singapore. It is directly beneath the centre of the financial district of Raffles Place, located in the Downtown Core area, south of the Singapore River. It is one of the more prominent and busier stations within Singapore's transport system, especially being an interchange station located within the Central Area. The station has a large number of entrances/exits, the two main ones facing the Raffles Gardens, with the building being a miniature facade of the historic John Little building. History On 9 October 1983, local ventures had won the MRT job for the construction of the tunnel from City Hall to Raffles Place. On the larger scale, on 4 May 1984, the contractor, Taisei-Shimizu-Marubeni had awarded the contract for the station, Contract 108. To make way for the construction of the station, the Chartered Bank Building was torn down. During the construction, massive rocks were blasted out of the way for the station, which shook several buildings near the station. This station used to be the largest and deepest MRT station in Singapore, but the record was broken by Dhoby Ghaut in 2003 and then by Bras Basah in 2010, by Promenade in 2013 and then by Bencoolen in 2017 which is 43 metres below ground. In 1998, some foreigners who could not find accommodation in Singapore were caught staying overnight in the station, and were regarded as loiterers. It is also one of the four MRT stations to appear in "Uniquely Singapore Edition" of the board game Monopoly. This station is part of the three emergency terrorist exercises. They are the Exercise Northstar 4 in 2004, the 2006 Singapore attacks and the 2009 Singapore attacks together with the Sentosa and VivoCity. A rail commuter’s leg slipped between the MRT platform and the train at Raffles Place station on 13 June 2012. An SMRT spokesman said a passenger on the eastbound train hit the emergency communications button at 4.10 pm, and station staff arrived within a minute to free the man’s leg. The unnamed man declined ambulance assistance and continued with his journey after some rest, she said. The incident delayed the train for four minutes. This accident happened 12 days after a similar incident at Bugis on 1 June 2012. Eastbound train service on the East West Line was delayed due to a faulty train at Raffles Place on 15 February 2013. Rail operator SMRT said passengers were asked to alight, and the train was taken out of service. To maintain service on the unaffected stretches of the East West Line, some trains were turned around at Queenstown and Outram Park (eastbound), and Bugis (westbound). A track fault occurred between Raffles Place and Marina Bay stations at 7.15 am on 3 April 2013. Trains from Raffles Place entering Marina Bay were affected. SMRT said its engineers were activated to rectify the fault. Station employees were deployed to manually control the track switch on site to allow safe train movement over the affected sector. Southbound trains from Raffles Place station were diverted to turn around at Outram Park station. These trains resumed northbound service at Raffles Place station towards Jurong East station. SMRT activated free buses for seven trunk services at about 7.50 am between Raffles Place and Marina Bay stations. Normal train service resumed after the track fault was rectified about an hour later. Operator SMRT said that preliminary investigations found that the disruption was due to a short circuit which was caused by a foreign metal object measuring 2 cm in length that its engineers found on the insulated rail joint located on the running rail connecting the two track blocks. Station layout Concourse Raffles Place was upgraded to TITAN faregates from both 1st and 2nd generation of faregates on October 2014. Escalators, and lifts connect the concourse to the platforms below. There are escalators that lead to Basement 3 and others that lead straight to Basement 4, and commuters are advised to follow the signages to the correct escalator. Toilets are located in the unpaid areas of the station, near to the Passenger Service Centre. Retail shops occupy at Basement 1 located at the Raffles Xchange, consisting of 7-Eleven and EC House. Exits There are several exits at Raffles Place MRT Station, all are in an expanded value. It is located sometimes at the historical buildings and sights, whereby it is very hard for people to see. Raffles Place MRT station has ten exits, some of which are surface exits and others linking to basement levels of adjacent buildings. Out-of-system transfers can be made to Downtown station via Marina Bay Link Mall (Basement Exit J), or to Telok Ayer via Street Level (Exit F). These are the largest group of people who have alighted at Raffles Place MRT Station. Overcrowding will occur during the morning and evening peak periods. Most of the load were diverted due to the opening of Downtown, Telok Ayer and Chinatown stations of the Downtown Line. Due to ongoing renovation works at Oxley @ Raffles (Formerly known as Chevron House), barrier-free accessibility from/to street level is limited to lifts at Republic Plaza (Exit D), for which the exit is closed during the following hours: *Weekdays (Mondays – Fridays): Closed at 10pm *Saturdays: Closed at 4:30pm *Sundays / Public Holidays: Closed Barrier-free accessibility is limited to lifts at Raffles Place Park and within buildings with basement station exits. * Exit A leads to Bharat Building, Royal Brother Building, Clifford Centre, The Arcade, Malacca Centre, 63 Market St, One Raffles Place and Raffles Place Park, although seen before. * Exit B: The Fullerton Bay Hotel, Chevron House, Great Eastern Centre, Straits Trading Building, Clifford Pier, 16 Collyer Quay, OCBC Centre, Customs House, HSBC Building, Singapore Land Tower, Change Alley, Golden Shoe Carpark, One Raffles Place, Raffles Place Park * Exit C: Ocean Towers * Exit D: Republic Plaza * Exit E: Equity Plaza, Ocean Financial Centre * Exit F was usable during most periods of time to Chinatown and Cecil Street. Its buildings are Robinson Road, Church Street, AMOY Hotel, CapitaGreen, Capital Square, China Square, City House, Far East Square, Fuk Tak Chi Museum, Prudential Tower, Manulife Tower, Robinson Tower, Samsung Hub. * Exit G was usable on January 2009 and it leads to Battery Road, Boat Quay, Moulana Mohd Ali Mosque, UOB Plaza. * Exit H: Asian Civilisations Museum, Bank Of China Building, Merlion Park, The Fullerton Hotel, Maybank Tower, One Fullerton, Six Battery Road, The Arts House at the Old Parliament, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, Raffles Landing Site * Exit I was usable on 17 August 2016, but it goes to Raffles Quay, Marina Boulevard, Ascott Raffles Place, Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, One Finalyson Green, SGX Centre and SO Sofitel Singapore. * Exit J was usable in most periods of time, but it goes to The Promontory@Marina Bay, Marina Bay Suites, Asia Square / The Westin Singapore, Marina Bay Financial Centre, Marina Bay Link Mall, Marina Bay Residences, One Marina Boulevard (NTUC Centre), One Raffles Quay, One Shenton, The Sail @ Marina Bay via One Marina Boulevard, Customs House and OUE Bayfront Timothy Mok had took various exits before: Exit D, as well as Exit F. Passenger Usage Patterns Raffles Place is a key interchange station linking the North South Line with the East West Line. Located within the City Centre, the station serves many office buildings and other attractions in the vicinity, in addition to being a key transport node for NSL/EWL transfer passengers. Hence, the station encounters high demand throughout the day, especially during the peak hours, but significantly lower demand on weekends. Every weekday morning until 7.45am, there are more passengers which are office workers who alighted at the station, enjoyed a 1-year free travel trial. This move will save the fare of the ez-link card. For those who missed the cut-off timing, they can enjoy a 50 cent discount for further 15 mins before more crowded trains came at 8am in the morning. Among of them, students will be able to enjoy their benefits of using the station. The people are trainspotters Willis Chong (towards Yishun) and Ong You Yuan (towards Tanah Merah), who have one reason to hate the evening peak hours. Abdul Qayyum also takes the train in order to go to Pasir Ris, during the evenings to nights. They are also home to the Learning Journeys of which students will gain experience of the heritage in Raffles Place, OCBC Centre, The Sail @ Marina Bay, Marina Bay City Gallery, Old Custom House and Finlayson Green. Some of the students are also going Learning Journeys, but whom they are also interchange stations if I am not wrong. The School Journey starts at Raffles Place to terminate at Jurong East, Woodlands/Admiralty, Clementi, Queenstown and Pioneer through the western stretch. Transport connections Rail References External links * Category:Raffles Place Category:Downtown Core (Singapore) Category:Railway stations opened in 1987 Category:Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations